Breaking barriers – Former swimming chief

Sandra Baldwin has been elected president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the first woman to hold the post, The New York Times reported Dec. 4.

As the head of USA Swimming from 1982 to 1984, the 61-year-old former English professor at Arizona State University was the first woman of any Olympic sport that was not an all-women’s sport.

All 21 previous USOC presidents were men, although women have dominated America’s medals in the Olympics since the 1980s, the Times said.

Baldwin faces the challenge of reviving the image of the big volunteer group that has been mired in dysfunction, hurt by the Salt Lake City bidding scandal and criticized for its drug-testing programs, the Times said.